Month: January 2021

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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's number of COVID-19 cases increased by 2,009 on Wednesday, with seven more deaths reported, according to the Utah Department of Health. The health department now estimates there are 46,034 active cases of the disease in Utah. The rolling seven-day average number of positive cases per day is now at 1,758, according to the health department. The positive test rate per day for that time period is now 18.4%. There are 452 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in Utah, including 161 in intensive care, state data shows. About 84% of all intensive care unit beds in Utah were occupied as of Wednesday, including about 89% of ICU beds in the state's 16 referral hospitals, according to the health department. About 52% of non-ICU hospital beds are filled. A total of 250,448 ...

More than 50% of the COVID-19 deaths reported in South Carolina on Wednesday were in the Upstate, according to data from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC).DHEC announced Tuesday 2,621 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 88 additional confirmed deaths. Forty-nine of those deaths were in the Upstate. Please click here for the county of residence and date of death for each person whose death was reported.This brings the total number of people with confirmed cases since the outbreak began to 384,556 and confirmed deaths to 6,030. DHEC also announced 228 new probable cases of the virus and nine new probable deaths. That brings the total number of probable cases to 42,675 and the total number of probable deaths to 643 in the state since the o...

STACEY: STATE AUDITOR ROB SAND SAYS HE’S LOOKING INTO WHETHER GOVERNOR REYNOLDS GAVE COVID-19 TESTS TO A BIG CAMPAIGN DONOR’ COMPANY, INSTEAD OF LONG TERM CARE FACILITIES THAT NEEDED THEM LEFT-LEANING POLITICAL BLOG ' ’BLEEDING HEARTLAND’ SAYS IT OBTAINED EMAILS FROM MAY, SHOWING THE GOVERNOR FAST-TRACKED COVID-19 TESTS FO GMT CORPORATION, A MACHINE PAR MANUFACTURER IN WAVERLY. THE EMAILS SHOW GMT ONLY HAD ONE POSITIVE CASE, BUT CONTACTED T GOVERNOR’S OFFICE DIRECTLY BECAUSE IT KNEW THE STATE WOULD DENY ITS REQUEST FOR A TESTING STRIKE TEAM. THE STATE APPROVED GMT’S REQUEST WITHIN DAYS. THE BREMER COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT, WHERE GMT LOCATED, SAYS IT REQUESTED TESTS FOR LONG TERM CARE FACILITIES AND ESSENTIAL WORKERS WEEKS BEFORE GMT’S REQUEST FOR TESTS, BUT DIDN’T GET A RESPONS...

Schizophrenia is the second biggest risk factor for dying of Covid-19 after old age, new research shows.  The mental health condition almost triples the risk of dying from Covid-19 when compared to a healthy person aged between 18 and 44.  The only group of people at higher risk of death than those with schizophrenia are older people who, irrespective of comorbidities, are far more likely to die.   Scientists do not yet fully understand why people with schizophrenia are at increased risk, but believe it may be due to a genetic flaw inhibiting their immune response.  People with schizophrenia tend to live, on average, up to two decades less than people with no mental health issues and also suffer from increased disease as a result of a lack of exercise, obesity, smoking and side effects fr...

Since the start of the pandemic, SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, has been mutating, its genetic code slowly changing as it spreads from person to person across the globe. For most of that time, the mutations didn’t concern scientists. The genetic changes didn’t seem meaningful in terms of how dangerous the virus is. Mutations are normal. Some even weaken the virus. Now, things are different. There are three mutated variants of SARS-CoV-2 of particular concern around the world. Researchers do not have the same level of evidence for each: One is more well understood than the others. But in each case, researchers see a seed of something concerning. There’s B.1.1.7 (yes, all these variants are clunkily named). This variant was first detected in the UK in September. Scie...